Charity
by TreacleTart301
Summary: You maintain just enough lucidity to roll over and look at your attacker. Horror fills you as you realize who it is. Suddenly, you know that this is no random robbery, but a planned attack.


Hogwarts term has just ended and you're on your way to a small town in Romania for a vacation that you've always wanted to take. You have plans to stay in a small country inn and get away from everyone except the few towns folk who live close by.

As the train lurches forward into the station, you gather your belongings. Lifting the massive suitcase packed with your things, you smile, thinking that the use of the feather-weight charm had been a good idea considering the walk from here to the place you will be staying. It's only a few kilometers, but it's a distance you feel certain you wouldn't have made lugging the three and a half stones of clothing and shoes that are currently packed into your suitcase.

Disembarking from the train, you look around. The station is mostly empty, dotted occasionally by a local who is returning from a trip to a neighboring town. There is a very old feel to the buildings that surround you and the station itself looks like a time capsule from a previous era with its pointed roofs and cobblestone walkways. The train blows off steam wearily as it rests on the tracks signifying the end of its journeys this evening.

Once outside of the station, all you can see for miles is green. Massive trees surround you creating a wall of leaves. Behind the tree line, giant mountains tower into the sky, the tallest of them just barely snow capped even in the warm summer months. A dirt path lies before you, well traveled, leading to the town where you will spend the next few months.

As you tread down the path, an occasional gust of wind rustles through your long skirt. The material wraps around your legs, periodically tangling you up. The rays of sun beating down on you are quite warm, so the moments where the breeze swells up are welcomed as it cools the sweat forming on your neck. You stop for just a moment to tie your hair up, maximizing the air that is currently flowing.

While you are stopped, you hear heavy footsteps crunching on the trail a ways behind you. Turning to look, you see a man that you vaguely recognize from the train. If you remember correctly, he started his journey in the same place you did. How odd that the two of you would have the same obscure destination as well. Almost too odd, you think to yourself.

Just then another breeze gusts up and an odd chill sets in. Goosebumps spring up along your arms and down your spine. You look back once more, observing the man on the path. He seems innocent enough, but something about him causes an ominous feeling to set in.

Once more you pick up your suitcase and begin walking down the trail. You have a good head start on the strange man, but you pick up your pace regardless. For some unknown reason, fear has filled you and the trees that were once beautiful to behold seem threatening and oppressive. You realize that if you were attacked here, there would be no one to hear your scream for kilometers.

Casually glancing over your shoulder, trying not to give away your current state of panic, you notice that the strange man has picked up his pace as well. Not only has he matched your speed, but his long legs seem to be carrying him much quicker.

Again, you speed up your pace. You are almost jogging now. The steps quicken behind you. It sounds as if the man is getting closer. With every step you take, you can feel him until he is right on your tail.

Just off in the distance, the town has come into sight. You know that if you can just make it there, you will be safe. Throwing all caution to the wind, you take off at a full sprint. The gravel crunching loudly behind you signifies that the stranger has begun to run as well. What could he possibly want with me, you think to yourself, but you never get an answer.

Before you reach the town, the stranger catches up to you. For a single solitary moment, you almost believe he will jog right past you, that is until he clubs you over the back of the head with his suitcase. You crash to the ground, head throbbing, and hands scrapping against the sharp gravel.

You maintain just enough lucidity to roll over and look at your attacker. Horror fills you as you realize who it is. Suddenly, you know that this is no random robbery, but a planned attack. You watch as the stranger lifts his heavy suitcase again and brings it down on your face. You feel the bones in your nose break just as you black out.

Upon opening your eyes, you realize you are suspended above a massive oak table in a dark, dingy manor. An opulent chandelier hangs just a little ways from you and rod iron torches line the walls, but even all of the light in the world couldn't make this room feel warm. A definite chill hangs heavy on it. The room smells of burning firewood and death, perhaps because so much blood has been spilled in these halls.

You feel the ropes digging into your back and arms, restraining you from moving. Regardless, you try to wiggle yourself free, but find that it only causes the ropes to cut farther into your skin. Your head throbs with the pain of being hit and you struggle to breathe through your crushed nose. It is agonizing as the bone fragments move around in the flattened skin every time you exhale.

Allowing your head to drop backwards, your heart freezes in your chest. Sheer terror pulses through your veins as you make eye contact with You-Know-Who. You notice a massive snake to his left and how they oddly look so much alike. His pale, gaunt face is possibly the most horrifying thing you've ever seen. Looking up, he offers you the most evil smile you've ever seen and says "Ahhh. Ms. Burbage, so good of you to wake up. I was just telling my aquintances of your theory that muggles and wizards are equals. Let me assure you that it provided us all with quite a good laugh."

The image is only made scarier when you notice the people surrounding the table, all of them Death Eaters. You scan the faces filled with malice and hatred. You recognize most of them from the wanted posters that the ministry plastered throughout Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley last year when they escaped. Upon seeing Bellatrix Lestrange you shiver, hoping against all odds that she isn't the one to torture you. Even death would be more merciful then ending up like Frank and Alice Longbottom.

Looking towards the end of the table, a small glimmer of hope sparks in your chest. You see Severus Snape, a man you've been friends with and taught alongside for the past six years. "Severus," you whisper trying to catch his attention, but he does not acknowledge you. Instead, he stairs impassively at the wall in front of him.

Suddenly, you begin to feel woozy from the blood rushing to your head as you hang upside down. You begin to fade in and out of consciousness as You-Know-Who begins to speak. Only small snippets of what he's saying seem to register. You hear random words like muggle studies professor and taught at Hogwarts, but have a hard time stringing them together.

Focusing back towards Severus, you begin to plead, fearing that death is just around the corner. "Severus, please. We were friends once. Please, Severus, help me."

This time Severus' eyes lock onto yours. His expression is cold, but his eyes are pleading with you, almost begging for forgiveness. You realize that he can do nothing to save you in the middle of this room full of Death Eaters. Death is coming for you and there's no way around it.

Hot tears begin to trickle down your cheeks towards your ears before they drip onto the table below you. Bile rises up in your throat and you choke as the contents of your stomach follow. Vomit fills your nose and gushes out of your mouth. You-Know-Who screams in rage below you. You feel content in knowing that at least if you're going to die, your last moments have been spent splattering vomit on Death Eaters.

You feel the room go deadly still around you. Looking back, sputtering and choking, you see You-Know-Who raise his wand. Knowing what's coming, you brace yourself for the pain. A green flash lights the room and speeds straight towards your body.

The last thing you see before death is Draco Malfoy sitting just below you. Tears fill his eyes and unabashed fear covers his face. You wish momentarily that you could protect him from all that he's about to see, but before you can give it much thought, the curse hits you. The whole world goes black and your lifeless body slams into the table.

Your soul floats up out of the shell it once lived in and hovers above the room momentarily. Disgusted and horrified, you watch as the snake, Nagini, slithers across the table towards your body. He opens his mouth wide and begins to consume your dead flesh. Slowly, your body disappears into the snake's mouth, causing him to swell to twice his usual size while his stomach digests it all.

You feel a sense of pity for Draco who is now openly distraught by what has happened. Tears even threaten to spill from his eyes. He seems transfixed by the scene in front of him and you know that he never wanted to be a part of this. He was never your student, but he certainly knew of you as you knew of him. You wonder if this is the first death he's ever witnessed. Based on his surroundings, you surmise that it certainly won't be the last.

Once again you find Severus. His face has still not changed, but you can tell that it's not easy for him to maintain his composure. He seems to be avoiding looking at the space where your body once laid. You can sense that he feels guilty for not being able to save you. Part of you wishes you could tell him that you forgive him, but the other part of you is angry that he's here at all even if it is as a spy.

As you float off into the great beyond, you wonder what will happen to the wizarding world. You worry that no one will even realize you've died, particularly now that Dumbledore is gone. Fear and sadness fill you as you think of all the children who will be forced to hate each other for silly differences like blood. Dumbledore used to say that love would always win out, but at this moment you aren't so sure. You can only hope that he was right as you pass on to the other side.

* * *

 _Hi there!_

 _This story was originally posted on HPFF for The Character Death Challenge where it got 2_ _nd_ _place! Charity Burbage was the characters that I was assigned and I have to say that I was pretty excited about it. I knew almost instantly what I wanted to do with her. It was really just a matter of figuring out how to format it._

 _Let me know what you think below! I'd love some feedback on it!_

 _Thanks for reading._

 _~Kaitlin/TreacleTart_


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